Current Information:

Age-25

14, Union Street, Barking

On 28th January, 1915, the 4th Rifle Brigade of 80 Brigade, 27th Division, moved into front line trenches at Dickebusch where they remained until relieved on 30th January. The battalion diary offers no further information about this so the circumstances of the death of Richard Clements on 29th January are not known. The attrition rate among British soldiers on the Western Front was on average 300 each day and 60% of these were as a result of shellfire. When not involved in an actual battle it was either shell fire or a sniper’s bullet that caused most deaths and injuries.